The road to gaining credibility for your startup company
By TRISOFT team
The process of building up a successful startup company can be quite complex and challenging even for those who have thoroughly done their homework. Even with the best idea at hand, it’s never an easy task to get all the support you need to enforce it and create an intricate working system from scratch. Materializing a new startup idea isn’t just about having the vision, but also about finding the right investors and loyal customers and together building the support and trust you need.
So what is it that separates the inspired entrepreneurs from those who fade into the sunset? In our experience credibility is the key factor in this equation. And if you’re wondering why, just think about all the difficult situations one has to go through in order to safely get to the other shore. It’s true, there is an entire set of qualities that an entrepreneur needs on his way to success, yet establishing credibility has been voted the most important one.
As you can imagine, the process cannot be done overnight, but there are indeed a few strategies that will help gain and maintain credibility more effectively. Let’s see what they are.
1. Being knowledgeable pays off
The very best way to gain credibility from your peers is to have the right answers to the questions that come your way. They could be about your idea, your plans, your strategies or anything else in your field of expertise. It’s great to have a formed opinion about what you’re doing and being prompt and reliable with the information you provide will truly make your collaborators confident they have made the right call working with you.
However, you need to take into consideration many other skills along with this one, as being knowledgeable really pays off only when accompanied by his close friends: sincerity and modesty. A balance must be sought between all these in order to ensure a smooth process in earning the so much desired credibility.
2. Sincerity — the winning card
Talk about sincerity — it’s one thing to have the background that allows you to give the correct answers to all the questions you are asked, and another thing to be able to discern between right and wrong and convey them in a fair manner.
So it’s extremely important to be honest about your statements and declarations, but it is as well important to keep some things in the dark. Also, as much as you can, be natural and just be yourself even when great accomplishments knock at your door. Your stakeholders will appreciate this color on you.
3. Empathy, the rarity
In a world where politically correct has become a cliche or merely a joke in some business environments, it’s quite amazing to find one that will encourage empathy. This is why the entrepreneurs who have it and cultivate it throughout their team tend to gain credibility faster and more efficiently than others. Both your team and your clients will appreciate you caring for their backgrounds, desires and needs.
A smart business owner will find the right balance between talking to his team about the importance of cutting expenses and working more hours and his own social and personal behavior. For instance, don’t show off your new Porsche to your employees after skipping their Christmas bonuses on account of low profits this year.
4. Keep your promises
Credibility also comes from always doing what you say you are going to do. Starting with the little details of getting back to a client on a simple question or information they have requested in due time for them to use it and appreciate your input. And continuing with accomplishing your business plans step by step, delivering on schedule and obtaining the actual figures you have foreseen at the beginning of the transaction. There is nothing worse than an entrepreneur who cannot follow on his promises, so if you really want to retain your credibility, be very careful to backup your words with hard facts.
5. Be honest and stay ethical in business
There are so many startup initiatives out there that it’s sometimes very hard to correctly put your bets on any of them. As a stakeholder, you are constantly looking for strong, solid business ideas and also for straightforward entrepreneurs, who can actually hold their ground and accomplish their goals.
Considering this context, honesty is the best policy and it really engages investors to come to your company, whereas dishonesty will instantly kill your credibility. Don’t trick yourself into believing that lying, stealing, deceiving or other manipulation techniques that are supposed to give you a kick-start will go unnoticed (from personal experience, we have some examples of unethical behavior to expose, but we’ll share with you when the time is right!); it’s almost never the case and the only result is the high risk of losing everything you have worked to build and never re-gaining it.
6. Remain objective
When it comes to business it is always advisable to keep an objective outlook on things. When it comes to your newly launched startup it’s even more plausible to seek for the objective perspective on business matters as much as you can. Why? Because credibility often lies in the extent to which an entrepreneur can move away from subjectivity.
So it is important to eliminate topics or subjects of debate that do not pertain to the business you’re conducting and aren’t quite related to the pursuit of your goals. Remember, anything that is drawing your focus away from your business is also wasting your energy and resources and moves you away from the success you have been planning for your startup.
7. Work with the feedback
According to the laws of startups, feedback is crucial in designing the final, perfect product or service. So you need to start acknowledging that everyone you come across in your business path can be of help in a smaller or larger proportion. Regardless of how insignificant their role might seem, anyone can add value to your credibility by offering their feedback either to you directly or to the market.
So it’s time to take advantage of all the feedback you receive, it’s time to consider other people’s opinion and down the road you will surely make good use of the benefits it will bring you. You might get negative feedback as well. Use it, it’s the Holy Grail of startup development!
8. Build on confidence
It can be assumed that an entrepreneur who is testing the waters with his new startup idea is probably not the most experienced professional on the market. He probably lacks the achievements and the endorsements necessary to build credibility nowadays. However, being confident about who he is can be a quality able to compensate for a lot.
So when you feel like the ground is shaking underneath you, just think about all those who cannot bring themselves to even try to launch their ideas. Be proud you have the confidence to dream big, build on it and follow your plans!
TRISOFT’s point of view
The final and perhaps most important stage in the life cycle of a startup is getting to that point where your clients can comfortably bet their money on your products or services. But in order to get there they need to trust you. In our experience, the best way to get there is to gain credibility — first by borrowing it until building it, and then by proving it. Take as much care to protect the credibility you have earned as you do establishing it in the first place.
Each of the tips offered above are good, but all of them combined are great. In combination, these tips can give any entrepreneur, no matter how young and/or inexperienced, the credibility she/he needs to attract great investors and loyal customers. But remember, the process can take long months or even years of hard work and diligent execution. So act right, be patient and stay focused!
